Your so called education

I have been in college for 3 years, and i can honestly say that not everyone takes their education seriously. There are a few factors that contribute to this. Some teachers are very laid back and they dont teach the class but would rather have debates and converstaions in class. This can be a good thing from a teachers point of view, but for those students who had to take that class as an elective, they can really care less and would just come to class to be there or just not even come. This would be why students arent learning anything. Then on the other hand, we have strict teachers that teach so everyone understands the material, but students get lazy and start thinking the material is hard, and put no effort into studying. They compare their class with another which might not even have deadlines or any papers due, and want to drop their class to take the easier professor next semester.

Some students really go to college to just go to college to proove to their parents they arent doing things they shouldnt. That would be why they dont pay attention in class and would rather just be on their laptop either on facebook, youtube, or just browsing the web and playing games. Not every student gets the pleasure of having financial aid pay for their college semesters, and i think some of these students dont take education seriously because they are not paying out of their pocket. Students just get lazier by the generation, and i think professors adapt to that, instead of teaching them how what they are learning will benefit them in the future. Professors should be training us in how to be more efficient in our majors and what a real job would expect from us. I agree that some things we learn will not have any affect on our lives, but students should try to redirect that education to things they can apply it to, to be successsful.

3 responses so far ↓

The problem with education in this country comes mainly from the developed attitude towards it. We grow up thinking that we go to school, then college and then get a job. Although this may be true it undermines what an education truly is. Education is suppose to enhance one’s mind. To give a person an oppourtunity to enhance ideas and to be more creative.

I never looked at in this way in High School. I was just told that in order to get a job you need to go to college. With that attitude it is no wonder that students don’t really care what they migt be learning.

High schools in this country do a terrible job of preparing kids for higher education. Instead of critical anylsis, kids are prepared for exams by studying facts. Americans are bad at math because they don’t work at it. Teachers just sought of push them through, give them as much partial credit for only some of the problems being solved. Students don’t care becuase they “passed the class”. Now in college these students are given a lot more freedom. Such freedom with a limted work ethic spells doom for our so called aspiring youth.

In order to truly change education in this country, American attitude has to change. An intellectual movement of soughts needs to infiltrate our American diaspora. We need to understand education as a method in which one can become smarter; subsequently, more talented and not just a bulwark towards a job.

Good insight, Safia, about how both extremes of instruction — too loose and too strict — can be counter-productive.

And I’d echo Mike’s points about ‘freedom’ (which I just commented on with regard to Jessica’s post). The kind of ‘freedom’ that comes with living ‘independently’ (meaning away from your parents), not having to work outside of school to support yourself (instead using loans and parents’ money), and not feeling the need to work at your classes, is an illusion. It’s not real freedom. Genuine freedom, I think, must be earned.

But in the end, most of us would rather be comfortable than ‘free’ anyway. At least until Mike’s movement is up and running!